Tag Archives for " marketing "

What do you say when somebody asks your opinion about targeting the gay market?
Recently a personal travel consultant asked for my advice about a great idea she had.
She told me she'd like to go after the gay market because they had discretionary income for travel.
Although I thought that was a bit generic, I agreed with her idea because most gay people I know are DINKies - Double Income No Kids, meaning they potentially have more money to spend on things like travel. She might have a point.
So then I asked her how many travel tours for gay people she had managed before.

None she said.

In the study of Neurobranding it has been enlightening to undercover how our brain subconsciously deals with the 5000 branded messages it is hit with every day.
Given there are so many messages, it's not surprising that we miss many of these messages on a conscious level, but they do get through to our subconscious brain, and form attitudes and beliefs we are not even aware of.
That's why consistency and repetitiveness is so vital for a stand out brand.

Is there a hidden message in your brand that targets
that subconscious level?

Winning in business is a lot like winning a gold medal at the olympics.
There’s sweat, tears and so much hard work behind the scenes that no one sees. You have your fans, your competitors and your detractors and in the end, it’s all up to your performance on the day.
Interestingly, the difference between coming in first place; getting the gold medal, standing on the top of the podium, winning respect and having sponsors fall over themselves to help you; and coming second, third or even out of the medals, can be as little as just a miniscule hundredths of a second, or a tiny quarter of a millimetre...

You hear from the champions in their field how they managed to win. They just did that 1% extra; they were prepared to train just a fraction more, push the envelope further or work harder on their technique. They go where their competitors are not prepared to go. It's that extra time spent working on themselves that made all the difference.

• Would your performance in business win you a gold medal right now?
• Where on the podium would you stand apart from your competitors?
• Are you a business champion, confident in your abilities, secure in your training and ready to play int he major leagues?

Perhaps you feel like you are running against the clock, exchanging all the time you have for just enough money to cover your costs and yet all you see on the horizon are competitors clambering for the finish line?

Maybe it’s time to go that little bit extra that will make you stand out from the crowd and propel your business forwards. Maybe it’s time to train yourself like a champion would, so that prospects seek out your advice and assistance, because you have that No1, gold medal quality they are looking for.

What would it be like if you were the respected champion in your field, sought after by the media to provide content for their publications, asked to speak and share your winning ways with audiences full of your ideal prospects, and being paid extraordinarily well, because you are the gold medal winner everyone wants to hear from.

Within months of defining my expertise and becoming a best selling author I began getting requests to speak at exactly the right events. I now have people refer others to me consistently and get requests to contribute articles to leading publications. I’m now charging 500% more than I ever did for my services in the past.

Would you like to know the secret to that 1% that will give you the ability to stand out as a gold medalist?

It’s called tenacity.

Tenacity means the ability to grip to something firmly. To have the determination and persistence to stick to what you are doing until you have reached your goal.

Tenacity means an almost pig-headed attitude to let nothing stop you, to push just that little bit harder and to let go of activities that distract you from your goal.

Having tenacity in order to win in business, means finding that core thing that is exclusively yours to own and stick with that makes you stand out from the crowd.

In order to achieve what everyone in business really wants….winning the race and gaining a reputation as the ‘go-to’ service provider so that people come to them for advice and help instead of you having to chase them…you need to ‘stick to your guns’ and be totally determined and have persistence to become the No1.

To take a firm grip, you can’t keep reaching for all the opportunities that come your way, changing your mind every few days about what it is you do, how you provide your service and who you help.

If you are not 100% sure about who you are, what you do, why you do it and who you help, you will loose your grip and come unstuck fast.

So what is it that you can hold fast to and grip onto in order to stay the distance in business and become a respected gold medal winning expert at?

It’s your personal brand. The uniqueness that is embodied in your DNA. Your personality, natural talent and key skills. Your gold medal is my definition of expertise - the ability to do with ease, something that others find extraordinarily difficult to even imagine doing.

Now is the time for you to pick the pursuit you want to compete in, get set and go for it.

Find out more about how you can refine your expertise and become a gold medal winner for your business - click here.

In the 1970's consumers brains were hit by about 500 advertising or brand messages a day....today it's more like 5000 a day, that's over 5 a minute!

That’s crazy! How on earth do we absorb that amount of information?

We can, because we have a massive microprocessor called a brain that subliminally manages all of these messages, filing them away, filtering them out or, if deemed important, stopping us in our tracks and making us aware of them.

What you are going to have to do is find some way to stand out from the crowd and capture a prospects attention and you are going to have to do it quickly.

There is an affliction service providers and consultants are suffering from and it’s killing their businesses.
It’s called FOMO. The Fear Of Missing Out.
And it's becoming an epidemic...If one more person tells me that their target audience is “everyone” …I will scream!
I believe FOMO is one of the main reasons why most service providers struggle to find and communicate their point of difference.

They don’t want to ‘miss out’ on all those potential clients out there by being specific about the distinct type of person they help. They try to be “everything to everyone”.
As a service provider or consultant it can be difficult to narrow down your “inch wide, mile deep” niche, because you believe your service can help almost anyone.

Trouble is, going after everyone is virtually impossible, especially on a zero marketing budget, and it’s detrimental to your brand.
FOMO could be stopping you from becoming known for a specific service, with a specific clientele.
Why is it so important to become known as a specialist?

If you are a service provider you probably spend the majority of your time putting out fires and managing tasks. There is almost zero time left to prospect for new business. Wouldn't it be easier to simply become totally attractive to the best possible prospects?

Here are three things you can do today, to make you and your services more attractive to ideal prospects so they come looking for you.

How do you answer that question when you meet potential prospects?

The average brain is hit with over 3000 messages promotional each day, that's 3 every waking minute! You are going to have to clearly and concisely present yourself and your business in order to cut through this competition for attention.

The saying goes "A confused mind never buys".

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The term Personal Brand has become very popular.

It is tossed about in social media, discussed in HR departments, posted on LinkedIN and presented at marketing conventions all over the world.

• Exactly what is a personal Brand?
• Why have one?
• How do you get one?

Learn the basics about Personal Brand in a few seconds with this very helpful infographic:

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I love the idea of exercising, it’s the actual doing of it that I find difficult.

Once I had a goal to lose about 10kg and decided that I would go for a bike ride every morning. I found a nice flat circular route of about 10kms and set my alarm to go for it first thing in the morning.

All my clothes, hat and shoes were ready by the bed so there was a seamless action as I jumped out of bed and got dressed, out the door and on the bike before my brain had really woken up and started telling me how crazy I was to be cycling while it was still dark.

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When you have a personal brand, your marketing decisions become very simple and easy.

The latest news that !2 Years A Slave Oscar Winner Lupita Nyong'o is now the face of Lancome is a true example of this.

Lupita recently spoke at Essence, the Black Women in Hollywood organisation where she told the heart wrenching story of her own desire to "whiten" her skin, praying to God to do this for her as she slept because she believed it would make her more beautiful. Of course her Mother told her she already was beautiful, but the magazines, media and world around her didn't give her the same message. It wasn't until she saw a stunning (and very dark skinned) model in the media that she began to develop her self confidence and acceptance that she was indeed, a very beautiful person, both inside and out.